THE RIGHT STUFF

It's 50 years since Porsche launched the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, the most iconic 911 of all - and first to wear a tail spoiler. Matthew Hayward meets the aerodynamicist responsible, and compares both versions of the legend

-  Matthew Hayward

Everybody was laughing at this 911 on the test track. They said there's no way it can be faster with that strange thing on the rear... But it turned out well.' There's no denying that Tilman Brodbeck - father of Porsche's 'ducktail' spoiler - had his work cut out when he was instructed to 'fix' the 911's on-track behaviour, but the young engineer employed his background in aeroplane technology and aerodynamics and did exactly that. Days spent tinkering in the wind tunnel sparked a legend: the 911 Carrera RS 2.7.

The very mention of those two letters (for Renn Sport, German for 'racing sport'), should be enough to make the hairs on the back of any Porsche fetishist's neck stand on end. It's a badge that represents the company's hunger for on-track perfection, and 50 years have now passed since its launch: a watershed moment in the company's history.

Unveiled to the world at the Paris motor show on 5 October 1972, this was not only the first 911 to wear the Carrera name, but the first Porsche to be christened RS. It was a homologation special, pure and simple, designed from the outset to offer a track-focused 911 to race teams and privateers alike - and boy did it succeed. Yet while it impressed on-track in Groups 3 and 4 racing, the RS 2.7's on-road manners really catapulted it into stratospheric collector-car territory. Of course, the resulting high values have ensured the RS's status as something to be worshipped, but after 50 years does Porsche's RS origin story still deliver the goods?